We have some somewhat good news for Fascinate owners: a new, official, very final-looking Froyo build DL30 for the Samsung Fascinate has been leaked, and it's been released completely unmolested (short of pre-rooting it). Even the bloatware has been left intact.

Obviously, the silver lining here is that we can see that Samsung and Verizon are making progress, and this could be a sign that the update is closer to being ready to roll out.

Oh, boy... what a mess this is. Earlier this week, a Motorola employee with access to the company's official YouTube account replied to a (now deleted) comment about their locked bootloaders with "if you want to do custom roms, then﻿ buy elsewhere, we’ll continue with our strategy that is working thanks." Issues about eFuse aside, that's a pretty poor thing to say from a customer service perspective. Apparently, Motorola recognized that fact after somebody posted on their Facebook page they'd be taking that advice:

Boy, do we ever have some fantastic news for the AOSP ROM-loving crowd: CyanogenMod nightlies are finally back, meaning the first official CM7 builds are rolling out as I type this. Sure, they're probably moderately buggy (although generally, CM nightlies are still pretty good), and yeah, they may be missing some features - but let's be frank: it'll still probably be one of the most solid Gingerbread builds around, regardless of what device you're using.

The MIUI custom ROM has pushed the limits of creativity and customizability ever since it was unleashed a few months ago by Chinese developers, seemingly out of nowhere. At times, you can't even recognize that this is actually Android, which, I suppose, is actually a compliment to Android itself. If it didn't resemble the iPhone UI so much at times, I would have probably enjoyed it a lot more, but nevertheless, it's incredible to see what a smart group of talented people can come up with when they put their minds together.

It's no secret that my EVO 4G runs a custom ROM called Fresh - it is one of the best EVO ROMs, free of bloatware and full of tweaks that make it fast and efficient, while keeping stability rock solid. The developer, flipz, is very good - he's responsive to Sprint OTA updates and bug reports and usually sorts out any issues in a matter of days.

The Android dev team has generally been assumed to have a passive stance on rooting and unlocking Android devices. That is, do it if you want - we won't stop you. And there's certainly evidence abound supporting this - Google's Nexus One could be unlocked via a simple ADB (Android Device Bridge) command: fastboot oem unlock. The same is true of the Nexus S.

Of course, it only makes sense - Google doesn't want to put any unnecessary barriers between Android developers and the open source OS, especially on developer phones.

Is it that time already? It was just 11 days ago that CM6.1 was dropped, and the team has already released 6.1.1. As this is a minor update, the changes aren't anything revelatory, but an update is an update, right?

6.1.1

Common: Add rotary lockscreen - Kmobs/cvpcs

Common: Updated translations - (everyone)

Common: Push update notificatiosn - Chris Soyars

Common: Fix camera sounds - CAF/Cyanogen/mtwebster

N1/DS/Supersonic: Kernel performance tweaks and fixes (various)

N1: Update build fingerprint

Vision: Fix MMS over WiFi calling - Zinx

Vision: Add console=null to kernel command line - Adam Tygart

Vision: Kernel to 2.6.32.27 and some performance tweaks

Droid: FRG83D fingerprint, translations, camera, torch fixes

At the moment, the new revision has only been released for four devices: The EVO 4G, Nexus One, T-Mobile G2, and MyTouch Slide.

Froyo for AT&T's version of the Dell Streak has certainly been long in the making - and it looks like it AT&T still isn't ready to release it - but users who simply can't wait any longer now have an option, albeit an unofficial one.

CyanogenMod 6.1 Alpha has just been ported over to the 5-inch tabletphone, and while the experience is said to be imperfect as it stands, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, and hardware acceleration are reportedly all in working order.

Details are stupidly scarce on this right now - there isn't even an XDA thread, and Google's not showing any hits either - but YouTube user jacememes has uploaded a video of a NOOKcolor running an Android 2.2.1 AOSP (Android open source project) build. That's certainly a fast turnaround time, given that the device was just rooted a few days ago.

The video was shot with an Android phone, so it's not the best quality, but it's more than enough to show what it needs to.

The MIUI ROM is definitely one of those things you'll either love or hate, but judging by the waves the arrival of the latest version of the mod has been causing, the community (or at least most of it) is of the former opinion. And rightly so, if you ask me - the ROM is now even faster, features user-creatable (and downloadable) themes, and pinch-to-zoom on homescreens, among many other additions.